Northwestern Events Calendar

Nov
14
2016

CIERA Special Seminar: Ondrej Pejcha, "Cool and Luminous Outbursts from Merging Binary Stars"

When: Monday, November 14, 2016
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Where: Technological Institute, F160, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Gretchen Oehlschlager  

Group: Physics and Astronomy Astrophysics Seminars

Category: Academic

Description:

Ondrej Pejcha
Princeton University
Cool and Luminous Outbursts from Merging Binary Stars

Many binary stars pass through a phase of dramatic energy, mass, and angular momentum loss. The existing theoretical uncertainties in this short-lived interaction phase significantly affect our understanding of the binary evolution pathways and their rates, including formation of close binaries composed of black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs. The discovery of V1309 Sco, a contact binary with rapidly decreasing orbital period followed by an outburst, recently established a connection between these astrophysically critical, catastrophic interactions and a group of astronomical transients characterized by their red color and the luminosity in the gap between novae and supernovae. I will present an exploration of the dynamics of outflows from mass-losing binary stars and the associated menagerie of transients. I will interpret the unprecedentedly detailed pre-merger data on V1309 Sco and argue that these transients can provide a fresh observational input into the open problem of violent binary interactions.

Host: Fred Rasio

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